Writers' new chapter on suicide

THE difficult topic of suicide was tackled by leading writer Martin Amis and two public figures whose lives have been touched by the tragedy. In front of a large crowd at the Manchester University, Amis, 59, spoke with poet Al Alvarez, 79, and South Bank Show star Melvyn Bragg, 69, about their experiences of the subject.

THE difficult topic of suicide was tackled by leading writer Martin Amis and two public figures whose lives have been touched by the tragedy.

In front of a large crowd at the Manchester University, Amis, 59, spoke with poet Al Alvarez, 79, and South Bank Show star Melvyn Bragg, 69, about their experiences of the subject.

Bragg's first wife, Lisa Roche, jumped from a window in 1971 10 years after the pair had married at the age of 21.

She had sought therapy but Bragg revealed that, unbeknown to him, her therapist had also committed suicide.

Last year he published Remember Me, a novel which revisits his wife's death.

Alvarez, who once edited the Observer's poetry section, was a close friend of Sylvia Plath, the American writer who killed herself at the age of 30.

He wrote a study of suicide, The Savage Garden, in which he discussed his friend's death.

Amis, who earns £80,000 a year for 28 hours work as the university's Professor of Creative Writing, subtitled his 1984 novel Money `A Suicide Note' - a subject he has revisited in later novels.

He began the evening with a joke about an Arsenal supporting friend whose safety he was concerned for after they were hammered by Manchester United in last season's Champions League semi final.

"I saw the headline 'Arsenal fan commits suicide' and called him straight away," he quipped.

Bragg spoke at length about his novel and said it had done him 'no favours'.

"It has been no therapy whatsoever," he said.

His wife killed herself after he left her but he added: "I am absolutely convinced that if we had stayed together we would have gone down."

Amis himself labelled suicide 'a bad marriage to life'.

He said: "You stay and you stay until you can't take any more but where do you go?"

Amis also listed doctors, vets and pharmacists as those most vulnerable.

He added: "They are people who witness decay and have a means to end it."

Alvarez cited the role depression played in most suicides.

"One of the key elements is of depression is rage and sometimes that gets turned on itself," he said.

The group also discussed suicide bombing, of which Amis said 98 per cent had occurred this century before comparing it to Romans falling on their swords and the Christian crusaders being prepared to give up their lives after being told by the Pope they would be 'seated at the right hand of God'.